True Colors
by Northern-Southern Belle
Summary: The arrival of spring (and spring cleaning) prompts Rumple and Belle to remember the first time she tried to redecorate the Dark Castle from the drapes to the paint on the walls (and all his efforts to thwart her.) One shot.


**Disclaimer: Only plot belongs to me!  
**

 **Also, this was originally a Rumbelle secret santa gift for 3tinkerbell3 over on Tumblr.**

Belle sat up in bed, went to open the curtains, and as the sun streamed through her and Rumple's bedroom, she looked at the date on the wall calendar, the first day of spring. "Get up, Rumple!" She urged her husband in a bright voice. "Get up! Do you know what today is?"

"No," Rumple groaned into his pillow. "It's too early. I want to sleep!"

"But it's the first day of spring!" Belle cried. "And that means it's time for spring cleaning and redecorating!"

That made Rumple sit up. "No," he said. "I'm not doing that again. I remember last time. It was a complete nightmare!"

"Only because you made it difficult," Belle told him. "If you would have helped me or let me handle it all, it wouldn't have been turned into something you hated. Will you help me this year?" She smiled and made her eyes big. "Please?"

"Oh, all right," Rumple said and got up. "Only because I remember what happened last time and I don't want it repeated."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Belle replied, looking away and whistling absent-mindedly.

* * *

 _The Dark Castle, many years before…._

" _Pink?" Rumple cried as he looked in horror at the samples of paint that Belle had on the table in the library. "Are you honestly telling me that you plan to paint my castle pink?"_

" _Well, if you were paying attention, you would see that that's only one of the many options," Belle told him, indicating the wide array of colors other than pink. "I was actually thinking about blue. I like blue. What's your favorite color, Rumplestiltskin?"_

" _You know, I never thought about that," Rumple told her. "Green? Maybe gold? I don't know."_

" _Well, you should think about it," Belle encouraged. "It might make you feel better about me doing this if you take part too."_

" _You know, when I requested you watch over my castle, that didn't mean that you were allowed to just re-do everything as you see fit," Rumple told her. "I'm the master of this castle, not you."_

" _Oh, lighten up!" Belle smiled and threw the pink sample at him so that it got all over his shirt. Then she stood there and waited to see what he would do in response._

 _He stared at her, his expression stern, almost frightening. Then he strode from the room and Belle kneaded her skirt with her hands while she waited for him to come back. Not that she was scared of him, of course. That would never be. But what if he took out anger about what she'd done on other people? She ran out of the library, calling his name in a loud voice that echoed off the castle walls until suddenly, he appeared in front of her in a puff of purple smoke. "Hello," he said, a sly smile curving his lips as he caressed the magic wand in his right hand. He held it aloft and said to her, "You see this?"_

" _Yes I do," she replied, trying to keep her voice from shaking as she backed against the wall. "That's a magic wand. What do you intend to do with it? Turn me into a toad? You've threatened that often enough."_

" _No," Rumple shook his head. "I don't think so. What fun would that be?"_

 _She then flinched as he brought the wand down and sparks of magic flew from the tip. But when she opened her eyes, she realized that nothing had actually changed on her body. She was just wearing a dress that was the most hideous shade of orange she'd ever seen._

" _You are such a child!" She cried and tried to wrestle the wand away from him so that she could turn her dress back, but he ran away, just hitting everything he could with magic so that the room was full of objects in various mismatched shades. But then she got hold of another wand and put it right between his eyes after turning everything back how it was supposed to be. "Don't move," she said. "Don't even breathe. Just turn my dress back to blue and then we'll talk about this like civilized adults."_

 _Rumple scowled at her, but lowered his wand. She nodded and lowered hers, but then surprised him by turning the rest of his outfit pink._

" _What did you do that for?" He cried, giving a little jump. "You said this was a truce!"_

" _I know, and I'm sorry," Belle apologized. "I just couldn't help myself. That was the last time, I swear." She turned her dress back to blue and then they both sat down on the sofa. "All right," she said and cleared her throat after putting the wand down and burying her hands in the deep pockets of her dress. "Let's talk about how we're going to paint this place. I like lots of blue. I think it's a very calming color. What's your opinion?"_

" _Well," Rumple replied, changing his clothes back to their normal earth tones. "My opinion is that although I don't really like the idea of you decorating this place as if you own it, I suppose since you_ do _live here, and_ are _helping me, it wouldn't hurt me too badly to let you have a small part of the castle that you may decorate as you like."_

" _Well, thank you," Belle said, feeling full of surprise. She hadn't expected such magnanimity from him. "That's very generous of you."_

" _I know," he replied. "Isn't it? Oh, and by the way: I like green." He then grabbed his cloak and put it on. "I have some business to attend to that will require me to be away for some time. I trust you will be able to occupy yourself in a responsible manner until I return?"_

" _And what is it you mean by 'in a responsible manner'?" Belle asked, crossing her arms as her blue eyes narrowed. "Are you afraid I'll invite everyone you've ever wronged to come here and live with us?"_

" _No, no!" Rumple shook his head. "I mean I don't want to come back from the headache of dealing with the Evil Queen to find you've turned my castle as pink as my trousers were not half an hour ago!" He then grabbed the wand and said, "In fact, I might just take this with me so you're not tempted."_

" _All right," Belle smiled. "Whatever makes you feel in control, Rumplestiltskin."_

" _Exactly," Rumple nodded, taking a few steps away from her. "Well, goodbye, then. Remember what I said about decorating the house."_

" _Yes," Belle assured him. "I'll keep to my own little corner and not touch any other parts of the house without consulting you first."_

" _Good," Rumple said. "Thank you."_

 _He went on his way and Belle grinned to herself, going back to the library and trying to decide what color she would paint her space. She'd planned on blue, but now she wasn't so sure._

 _She grabbed the paint samples, picked a room, and began painting it sunny yellow. When the room was finally done, she said under her breath, "All right. I've done my own space. Now what do I do? I know I promised Rumplestiltskin that I wouldn't paint anything else, but…why let all this paint go to waste? And I remember he said he liked green, so surely he wouldn't mind if I made some rooms that color…"_

 _She set to work and had just painted the last brush stroke when she heard Rumple's voice call to her._

" _Coming!" She yelled back, trying to keep her face serious as she approached him._

" _Hello," she smiled serenely. "Did you have a nice meeting with the queen?"_

 _Rumple scoffed. "I_ never _have a nice meeting with the queen. They're never anything but tasks to be endured."_

" _And since you got through it, you deserve a rest," Belle told him. "Why don't you go sleep and I'll have your lunch ready for you when you wake up."_

" _All right," Rumple replied after giving her a long look, which she met with a smile. "Thank you."_

" _You're welcome," Belle replied._

 _He headed off to his room and she waited. It didn't take very long for her to get the response that she knew she had coming. He stomped back, wand gripped tightly in one hand as he waved it angrily in front of her face. "What did you do to my room?" He growled. "I told you to only paint your space!"_

" _I know, but you said you liked green and I didn't want all the paint to go to waste," she said. Then she put her hands on her hips. "I don't know what you're complaining to me for. If you don't like what I did, you can change it, can't you? Isn't that what that wand is for?"_

" _Yes," Rumple nodded. "That is indeed what the wand is for. But I intend to do much more with it, just to make sure you never defy me again."_

" _Are you?" Belle asked. "I can't wait to see what that will be."_

 _He strode away to change the color of his walls back to normal and then he came back and shot some magic at Belle with the intention of messing up the color of her dress and hair, just like she'd taken charge of the color of his room without permission._

 _She deftly stepped aside and missed it and it hit one of the chairs, turning it a bright shade of orange. Another burst of magic smashed into the dishes, breaking some and turning others shades of red and orange._

 _Things got even more colorful when, despite Rumple's efforts, Belle got hold of a wand of her own, shooting magic with just as much enthusiasm and as little aim as Rumple._

 _Soon, the house was colored all the colors of the rainbow, as were Rumple and Belle's hair and outfits._

" _All right, that's enough!" Belle cried. "No more! If I put my wand down, you put down yours too. Agreed?"_

" _Fine," Rumple said through his teeth. "You first." He watched her lower her wand to the ground and then he started to, but then changed his mind at the last minute, making magic shoot out of the tip with such force that half the roof was blown off of the castle._

" _That's a fine thing!" Belle cried, gesticulating wildly. "How do you intend to fix that? What if it rains?"_

" _If it rains, you can get wet," Rumple shot back. "It won't hurt you. Or you could go rest in the dungeon. You'll be dry there."_

" _All right," Belle nodded. "I will. And you better not wait forever to fix that. If you don't do it right away, I will nag you until you do."_

" _You won't be nagging for long," Rumple told her in a tone that meant that he would try and kill her before long. "Good night."_

* * *

"I _did_ fix the roof in the end," Rumple reminded her as she climbed into bed beside him and he put his arms around her, kissing slowly and deeply on the lips. "You didn't even have to spend any time in the dungeon to keep dry!"

"I'm grateful that you came to your senses, I suppose," Belle agreed. "So…how do you want to do the decorating? Or would you rather be the one who does the cleaning? With that magic of yours, it will hardly take you any time at all."

"I'll help you with both," Rumple replied with a smile as he got out of bed and reached for his bath robe. "And just so I know, will this decorating include painting?"

"Of course," Belle nodded. "If you want it to. Would you like a green room?"

"Yes," Rumple nodded as they made their way to the kitchen. "If that's all right with you."

"All right," Belle nodded with a smile. "I like blue, but green's lovely too."

Rumple made them breakfast and after they ate, changed into painting clothes (denim and a dark shirt, much to Belle's surprise) and zapped up the paint. "I'll start, while you dress," he told her.

"All right," Belle nodded. "I won't dawdle, I promise."

"Good," Rumple nodded and stuck the dishes in the sink. "Because I don't think I should do this alone. This is something we need to do together."

 **The End**


End file.
